I grew up in Hawaii, where you have a lot of Asian Americans - Japanese, Philippino, Chinese, etc. Asians were the majority in most schools I attended as a kid - and Asian snacks were very popular among all of us. Including dried cuttlefish, which was always thought of as a treat among us 5th graders!

We wouldn't buy it prepackaged like that, though. Instead, you go to your neighborhood "crackseed" store. Inside you'll find a sweet old Okinawan grandmother type, or old Japanese grandfather type who loved kids (we smelled like money to them) and you'd buy it by the pound out of great big glass jars. The different jars would go almost up to the ceiling, with cuttlefish, rock salt plums, li hing mui, salted and dried mango, and more sweet, sour and salty goodness than you could shake a stick at.